EF1 Tornado — Howard, Iowa

2019-05-27 · near Maple Leaf, Howard, Iowa

Event narrative

A tornado formed over rural Howard County south of Saratoga and then traveled north-northeast before dissipating just before entering Lime Springs. The tornado struck and destroyed a wind turbine north of State Highway 9 and also destroyed a large farm building along Lilac Avenue.

Wider weather episode

As an area of low pressure moved across the Upper Midwest, thunderstorms developed during the afternoon of Memorial Day (May 27th) across portions of northeast Iowa. These storms quickly became severe and produced tornadoes across Floyd, Chickasaw and Howard Counties. The first tornado developed near Charles City (Floyd County) and was on the ground for about 7 miles, extensively damaging some buildings at the Floyd County fairgrounds along damaging three houses severe enough to make them inhabitable. Another tornado moved across rural portions of Howard County for 12 miles and damaged a wind turbine and cattle barns. Two other weaker tornadoes also touched down across northwest Chickasaw County and northern Howard County very close to the Minnesota state line.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (43.2975, -92.4343)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 827269. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.